What is domestic violence?Domestic violence is one of the main types of violence against women globally. It denotes violence within the family unit. The partners might be married; they might be heterosexual or homosexual; they might live together or separatly.

In this 20 minutes movie produced by SUANA; the 19 year old migrant “Yasmin” is telling her story about how she was able to defend herself against forced marriage with the support of SUANA. The film is based on a true story.

SUANA received a fax from the immigration office in which Yasmin was telling that her parents brought her to Turkey against her will and that she was supposed to marry a man there.

An important aspect of the movie was to show the cooperation of the different institutions. The film shows the successful networking between the immigration office, the counseling centres SUANA and Lila Dach and the women’s refuge.

The movie was made in cooperation with the “Department for Women’s affairs and Equal Opportunities” and the “Department for Intercultural Affairs” and can be borrowed by institutions and groups in order to do public relations work.

Opferschutz für alle Frauen – Victim protection for all women

The results of a study made by the Lower Saxony Criminological research Institute shows: Every day there are about 160 women who are affected by domestic violence, of which more than half live in families with a migration background.

In 2002 the statistics of the preventive programme of the police registered 933 German women and 458 female migrants. If the large number of undiscovered cases had been considered the number would certainly have been be a lot greater.

Female migrants and refugees are in a very particular situation. Their private and their social life is highly dictated by legal requirements of the Aliens Law, Asylum Procedure Law. Their social life also depends on their residence status.

Évery woman has the right to live free from violence. In spite of the Protection against Violence Act this remains a wish and utopia for female migrants, because the needs of female migrants are not really considered in this Act.

We demand/ call/ claim: Victim protection for all women

This movie is an interview with 4 female migrants who defended themselves against domestic violence and who were accompanied and supported by SUANA on their way.